The day the slaves crucified the Lord
Dr. Michel E. Abs
Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches
The slaves and their servants did not know in the presence of whom they were, so they acted in a mad, cruel, and arbitrary way!
The day the master stood before his executioners, with their different appellations, listening and bearing all the accusations and insults, he knew that he would redeem those who were waiting for him and did not know that he had come to them as a redeemer.
On the day the Master endured scolding, condemnation and injustice, he did not hesitate for a moment to proceed on the journey of redemption to the end.
On the day their whips poured into his incarnate body, he did not blame them, nor did he harden his heart on them, but persisted in his love, which has no limits or conditions.
On the day he took up his cross and his wounds and went on with his mission to the end, he did not spare the divine blood that was shed for the New Testament.
On the day the hammers drove down the nails into the incarnate God, not a single blame passed in the mind of the Lord.
On the day the commanded slave pierced the Lord’s chest, he did not realize what was poured out of it and its grave significance.
On the day vinegar was given to him to quench his thirst, the slaves of the slaves did not know that they were writing the last chapter of the saga of redemption.
Out of the hundreds, possibly thousands, of those present, very few understood what was going on.
On that prodigious day, new lines of history for all of humanity were being written!
On that historic day, a new era for humankind had been launched!
On this eternal day, truth triumphed over falsehood, and the guiding light of eternal life rose on the open ravine of oblivion.
Slaves and their slaves had never dreamed that the tool of execution on which they crucified the Lord would become the symbol of love, service, and kindness to creation.
It did not occur to the minds of false witnesses that the response to hatred would be love, and that the response to injustice would be mercy.
If only they had understood what had been going on!
If only they had picked up the signals!
They would have spared the human race centuries of tyranny and persecution and thousands of martyrs whom they had thrown as preys to the beasts after they had judged them by their brutal minds and hardened hearts.
Had they known that they were in front of the Lord of the Resurrection, they would have trembled with awe, feared, and drawn back on what they had intended to do.
For these very reasons, the Lord asked his Heavenly Father to forgive them. They knew not what they were doing.
As for us today, we are fully aware of the essence of the mission, and we will follow it and pursue it till the end of times!